


Strawberries and Roses

by Duck_Life



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Apologies, F/F, Friendship, Picnics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 11:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20096773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Mal responds to a mysterious invitation left at her locker.





	Strawberries and Roses

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago and never posted it for some reason. After seeing Audrey and Mal again in D3, seemed appropriate to post it now!

When Mal gets the mysterious note in her locker, she assumes it’s from Ben.  _ Meet me in the west gardens at sunset _ , it says, with a little sketch of a rose on the corner. 

In retrospect, that rose should have been Mal’s first hint. 

That afternoon, she changes into a flowy violet and white dress crafted by Evie and adorns her dark purple hair with a couple glittery barrettes. After all, she might as well look nice for her not-so-secret admirer. 

Mal grabs her phone and her clutch and heads out to the west gardens as the sky grows pinker and pinker. She has to admit, the gardens really do look amazing at this time of day, with selections of flora from all over Auradon and Auradon’s allies. There are cones of ginger and enormous hibiscus flowers from Chief Moana’s island, fragrant cherry blossoms from the Imperial Palace and a big bush of purple lilies donated by Corona. Mal vaguely recalls Jane explaining to her how limited magic was used in the gardens to allow all the different flowers to bloom together regardless of the climate. 

She gets so caught up admiring the flowers that she doesn’t spot the picnic blanket until she’s almost on top of it. And then she has to do a double take when she sees who’s sitting on it. “Audrey?”

“Hey,” the other girl says, looking up at her from a delectable-looking spread of fruit and cheese, crescent rolls and croissants and candied pecans. “Good, you got my note.”

“ _ Your _ note?” Mal says, baffled. “I… I thought…” 

“Of course I figured if you knew it was  _ me _ you wouldn’t even bother showing up,” Audrey rambles on, looking suddenly self-conscious. It’s probably true, Mal reflects. She and Audrey aren’t feuding anymore, having resolved most of their issues after Ben’s coronation, but they aren’t quite besties. “Come on, sit down. I brought sparkling cider. And strawberries, too, I heard those were your favorite.” 

Well. Mal can’t exactly refuse that. She kneels down on the blanket and sits on the opposite corner, just about as far as she can get from Audrey while still remaining on the blanket. “You really didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”

“No, I really did,” Audrey says, carefully unrolling a napkin over her lap like they’re eating at a five-star restaurant instead of on the ground. For the occasion, she had dressed in a pale pink dress and a baby blue cardigan with intricate golden rose studs in her ears. “See, I’m usually really welcoming to people who come to Auradon Prep. Even people I don’t understand that well. Even with Carlos and Jay and Evie, I treated them loads better than I treated you, and I’m sorry for that. It’s just…”

“I stole your boyfriend?” Mal guesses.

Audrey makes a face. “I don’t know if I can express to you how very little Ben Florian has to do with any of this,” she says, and they both laugh. “No, the difference was that  _ you _ were Maleficent’s daughter. And Maleficent… Maleficent was the scariest monster of my childhood. Did you know my mother wouldn’t even let me leave the castle until I was eight years old? She was terrified that Maleficent would come swooping back into our lives.” 

Mal  _ didn’t _ know that. Whenever she pictured Audrey’s childhood, it was that of a spoiled little girl who got everything she wanted and went everywhere she pleased. “I’m… sorry.” 

“Shh, don’t interrupt me,” Audrey says. “Anyway, my mom used to be so overprotective… overbearingly so. And I guess the thing about you coming here was… I was worried it would make my mom scared again. And she’d take me away from this place and all my friends and keep me shut up in a castle again.” 

Mal looks across the picnic blanket at Audrey, somehow feeling closer to her. She’s seeing the princess in a different light, and not just the dazzling gold-pink of the sun going down. “You’re scared of her,” she realizes.

Audrey shrugs. “Everyone’s a little bit afraid of their parents,” she says. “Even Auradon kids.” She scoops some port wine cheese onto a cracker and takes a bite. Crumbs rain down onto her lap, making her look a little more imperfect and a little more at ease. She’s not some symbol of impossible-to-attain beauty and femininity. She’s like Mal— just another messed up kid. “The thing about me is, when I get scared I get catty. And that’s… that’s why I said all those things I said to you. And… I’m sorry.” 

“Thank you,” Mal says. She takes a bite of a strawberry. “I’m sorry I love-spelled Ben.” 

“Yeah, I’m sorry, too. For you,” Audrey giggles. “Oh man, did he take you on his moped?” 

“Mm-hmm,” Mal says, laughing a little around her bite of food. She’s really starting to enjoy this picnic more than she thought she would. 

Audrey shakes her head. “He thinks that thing makes him  _ so _ cool,” she says. “Like, ‘ooh, look at me, I’m King Ben and here’s my teeny-tiny motorbike. Vroom vroom!’” They dissolve into peals of giggles as the sun sinks below the horizon. 

They finish off the sparkling cider and most of the fruit while Audrey tells stories about Ben as a petulant eleven-year-old and Mal talks about some of her most perilous dealings with goblins back on the Isle. 

Eventually, Mal winds up stretched out on the blanket, lying beside Audrey and looking up at the twinkling stars. 

“I’m glad you came out here,” Audrey says. “I was worried maybe you wouldn’t.” 

“Sorry for making you worry,” Mal says, and like a miracle, their hands brush alongside each other. It doesn’t even feel weird, it feels like they should’ve been like this from the beginning, should’ve skipped over all the bickering and pettiness. “Listen… Audrey, we don’t have to be our parents. And we don’t have to be scared of them either.” 

“You’re right.” Audrey rolls on her side to look at her, their hands now fully tangled together. “I do still feel bad about never giving you a proper welcome, though. What if I took you out for a real dinner? There’s this good Italian place I know. They have the best spaghetti and the  _ cutest _ dogs are always hanging around back.” 

Mal smiles. “Yeah, alright,” she says. 

When Audrey turns back to look up at the stars, Mal turns to the side just slightly so she can look at Audrey. 


End file.
